Flatiron holder



Feb. 8, 1944. w. H. GEY

FLATIRON HOLDER piled Feb. 19, 1942 Patented Feb. 8, 1944 vFLATIRON HOLDER William ,H. Gey Boston, Mass., assignor to GeyarnV Manufacturing Company,

Boston,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 19, 1942, Serial No. 4131,523

(Cl. 24S-117.3)

9 Claims.

holder is a device of the general nature of that` disclosed in my prior Patent No. 2,191,649, granted February 2 7, 1940, and has the Vsame general objects. However, it embodies improvements, both structural vand functional, over thevr device disclosed in said patent, the vcharacter and utility of which are set forth in the` following specification.

The drawing furnished herewith illustrates a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, andtherein Fig. 1 is an elevation of myimproved fiat-iron holder as it appears when position for use;

Fig. 2 is a vertical centralsection of the holder taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1; f

Fig. 3' is a plan view of the holder;

lapplied to ay wall in Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail section taken on the broken line '4 4 of Fig. 1.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur'in all the figures.r

The complete article herein illustrated is composed of a main body or Aback platev 5, a pocket B to receive the heel of the flat-iron, or an extension therefrom such as is provided with manyl electric irons, lateral retainers 'l and 18, a heat insulator 9, and a hook QH! forsupporting an' electric cord or cable.

The body 5 may be a plate yofsheet steel 013` other sheetV material sufficiently thick to furnish adequate strength and stiffness to support the other parts of the device and the weight of the iron and cord. 1t has perforated tabs il and [2j at its upper and lower ends,-and may have perforations elsewhere, to receive hooks, screws or able shapes, as later more fully described, and secured at their ends to the back plate and pocket by means later described.

The heat insulator 9 contains novel features embodying important factors of the present invention. It is constructed of jtvvometal plates i4 and l5, refractory bodies I6 confined between the plates and protruding through them, and fasteners connecting these plates together as a self-contained unit. The refractory bodies IS are preferably glass balls; glass beingemployed because it is one of the best of all known non conductors of heat, and well prevents heat conduction from a hot iron to any of the metallic structural members. The spherical form of these bodies likewise is of advantage in minimizing heat conduction, due to the small areas whereon they make contact with the base of` the iron and with the back plate. Still another reason for using glass balls is that, owing to their hardness and smoothness of surface,they will not scratch'the surface of the iron when the latter is being placed in and removed from the holder. Their resistance to fractrure likewise is very great; so great that it is impossible to break them by the impact of an iron in course of being placed inthe holder. g

It will be understood, however, that, while the use of glass balls in this situation is a highly useful feature of the invention, and Vis claimed as such, yet the generic aspects of the invention are not limited thereto, but embrace equivalent bodies made of other materials which are poor conductors of heat and are strong `to resist fracture, and which may be spheres or spheroids, or have other suitable shapes. The term refractory bodies as used in this specification is intendedl to include all materials and shapes which are sufliciently resistant to conduction of heat land resistantto fracture to-fserve the Purposes indicated.

The Plates I4 and l5 are perforatedat correspending points and the rims of the perforations other fastenings whereby it may be secured to a Il] are preferably made of stiff rods bent to suitare struck outwardas shown at l'l and I3 to provide seats for the balls. The dimensions of such perforations and seats, relatively to the dimensions of the balls, are important. The seats Vare tapered to approximate or substantial conformity with the curvature of the ballsV and in all parts have diameters less than the maximum or equatorial diameter of the ball for which they are designed; but the smallest diameter, which boundsV the o'rice at the outer `surface, of the plate, in each plate, is large enough to permit protrusion ofthe ball. Thu's'when the platesof the insula-v tor are brought together with the balls between them and alined with the respective orices, the balls protrude on both sides of the insulator, substantially as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. At a suitable number of locations, bosses 2D and 2| are offset in each plate toward the other plate to a distance sufficient to come substantiallyinto contact when the plates are brought into embracing engagement with the balls. The preferred effect is to have the ball seats grip the balls with little or no looseness; but this is not a vital feature. In commercial practice it is di'icult to obtain a large number of glass balls of exactly uniform diameter, or so nearly uniform that some will not be loose while others are tightly gripped. The essential condition is that all the balls will be retained with assurance of not falling out, while protruding from the retaining plates.

The bosses described are provided at the' locations a, b, c, d, e and f in Fig. 1. At the locations b, c andf, rivets 22 are passed through perforations in the bottoms of the bosses and headed over to secure the plates I4 and I5 together, with the balls between-them, as a unit. At the locations a, d, and e,-bosses 23- are offset forwardly e from the back plate 5 to enter the bosses 2l and bear against the offset bottoms thereof, and at these locations the insulating unit is secured to the back plate by rivets 24. The extent of the offsets 23 is Vsuch as to enable the ballsto bear on the back plate or Ycome `substantially into bearing thereon, when the insulator is thus secured to the back plate. The rim of the forward retainer plate I4 of the insulator is bent back at an obtuse angle to form a bevel 25. v

The protruding. balls l S. form the points of bearing for contact with the bottom surface of a flat-iron when placed in the holder. A considerable number of balls are provided; in this case twenty, although the precise number is not important. It sufces that enough are provided to form a number of points of engagement with the bottom/of an iron of any size capablev of ,being received in the holder, when such bottom is placed flat against the insulator.

The balls have narrow areas of ,tangentcom tact with both the bottom ofthe iron andthe back plate 5, and the balance of their surface area is many times as great as the tangent areas. Moreover, the balls hold the iron away from the plate I4, leaving wide spaces for the now of convection air currents. Thus a highly heated iron may be placed in the holder without danger of harmful flow of heat from it to the supporting wall back of the holder. Even though the iron itself may be hot enough to char combustible material, its total area of contact with the insulator is so small, the points of contact so widely scat'- tered, and the open spaces so large, that only an inconsiderable fraction of the heat is transmitted to the back plate 5, and the temperature of the latter is `not raised'appreciably. The large surface areas of the balls dissipate most of the heat which they receive by conduction from the iron.

The endsv of the rods constituting the lateral retainers 1 and 8 are mounted in foot pieces 26 which are applied to the back plate at separated points outside of the boundaries of the heat insulator, and are secured by screws 27 passing through offset bosses 28 in the back plate. The details of one'oi the attaching meansthus described are shown in Fig. 4. The rod ends project Vforwardly from the back plate andthe intermediatepart of each rod is bent over toward the other to an extent such as to overlap the body of an iron placed in the space between them.

The retainers thus embrace the iron so that it cannot fall either forwardly or laterally from the holder.

The cord holder IU is formed with parallel end portions 29 set into foot pieces 30, which abut against lugs 3l (Fig. 4) on the lower edge of the back plate, such lugs being bent forward underneath the rear part of the socket 6. Screws 32 pass through the bottom of the socket, through the lugs 3|, and into the foot pieces 30. The parts of the rod adjacent to the end portion 29 are bent rearwardly at 33, thence forwardly, outwardly from one another, and upwardly in the parts 34, and these parts are joined by a horizontal length to which the numeral I 0 is applied. This formation makes in effect a wide hook around which the cord may be wrapped. Its dimensions are such as to accommodate the entire length of cordswhich are usually provided with electric irons.

Finally, there is provided an abutment plate 35 within the pocket 6 to support the heel part of an iron or an extension such as that shown by dotted lines at 36 in Fig. 2, with which electric irons are frequently equipped. The abutmentV plate is formed with perforated lugs 31 spaced conformably with the screws 32, and through which such screws pass. Thus the screws 32 serve the triple purpose of securing the cord holder I0, securing the abutment plate 35, and assisting the rivets I3 to attach the bottom pocket 6 securely. The abutmentfplate extends with a forward and downward inclination and its forward edge rests on the bottom of the pocket under the weight of the iron. It causes the lower end of the iron, or its extension 36, to be thrown forward against the front wall of the pocket 6, and the upper endof the iron to bear against the heat insulator (in the cases where the height ork thickness of the iron is less than the distance between the heat insulator and the overlapping parts of the laterial retainers), so that the iron leans against the insulator rather than on the side retainers. In such cases .only .the uppermost ball, or a few of those near the upper end of the insulator make Contact with the iron. But in the case of an iron which-fully occupies the space embraced by the retainers all, or a great majority, of the balls may be in contact with lthe bottom of the iron.

Variations from the precise form and arrangement ofthe various parts herein disclosed mayr whether made of glass or other material,i mayv depart considerably from the shape. of true spheres provided only that they present narrow protuberant contact .areas for engagementwith the iron, and that theyv have sufcientenlargement in their middle parts to be retained bythe seating portions of the plates. These vplatesm-ay be of thin sheet metal, ,not necessarily stiff enough to maintain a continuous separation from 1 the back plate when connected to the latter by For instance, the backonly two or three fastenngs, as n the present instance, and they need be only stiff and strong enough to prevent tearing at the ball apertures and to extend flatwise throughout the small distances and areas between adjacent balls. The balls themselves, coming into contact with the back plate under the pressure of an applied iron prevent the plates of the insulating unit from being bent and offset.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a flat-iron holder, a back plate, a pocket having lateral walls adapted to embrace the heel end of a flat-iron or an extension from said heel end, secured to one end of the back plate, an abutment plate located within said pocket having an iron-supporting portion extending with a forward and downward slope when Athe holder is in its normal upright position on a wall, a cord holding hook beneath the pocket, and common fastening members securing said abutment plate, pocket and hook together.

2. In a flat-iron holder, a supporting plate adapted to be mountedy upright on a wall, a pressed sheet metal pocket having side walls adapted to receive and embrace the heel end of a fiat-iron, or an extension thereof, lugs'on the back plate projecting forwardly beneath the pocket, an abutment platev within the pocket, a wire supporting hook beneath the pocket, and common fastenings connecting said abutment plate, pocket, lugs and wire hook together.

3. In -a flat-iron holder, a body member adapted to the mounted upright against a wall, and a pocket associated with the lower end of said body having an interior abutment portion forwardly and downwardly inclined with respect to the said body and a forward retaining wall, said abutment portion and retaining wall being arranged to receive the usual extension from the heel end of an electric flat-iron and cause the upper part of the iron to lean toward the body.

4. In a nat-iron holder, the combination of a back plate, two retaining plates forming elements of a heat insulator, said retaining plates being placed adjacent to one another back to back with a space between them and having registering bosses offset toward one another, the back plate having forwardly oifset bosses in register with certain of the bosses of the retaining plates, fastening members passing through said bosses, connecting the retaining plates to each other and to the back plate, and refractory bodies conned between said retaining plates and protruding through apertures in said plates.

5. A heat insulator for use in a flat-iron holder comprising two plates having a number of offset bosses located with the bosses of each in register with and protruding toward those of the other, fastening members passing through said bosses and connecting the plates together with a space between them, said plates having alined apertures, and refractory bodies of greater width in their widest parts than said apertures confined between the plates in register with the apertures, and having portions of less Width protruding through the apertures.

6. A heat insulator adapted for use in a atiron holder comprising two plates having a number of apertures, said plates being arranged with the apertures of each in axial alinement with corresponding apertures of the other, refractory bodies of greater width in their widest parts than said apertures located between the plates in register with the respective apertures, and having narrower portions protruding through the apertures, and fastening means connecting the plates together.

7. A heat insulator adapted for use in a flatironholder comprising two plates having a number of apertures, said plates being arranged with the apertures of each in axial alinement with corresponding apertures of the other, glass balls of larger diameter than said apertures located between the plates in register with the respective apertures, and fastening means connecting the plates together so that portions of the balls protrude through the apertures.

8. A flat-iron holder comprising a body plate, and a heat insulating unit secured to said body plate in spaced-apart parallel relation thereto; said unit comprising plates secured together in substantially parallel planes with a space between them, each provided with a plurality of apertures distributed over its area in alinement with corresponding apertures of the other, and bodies having poor heat-conducting qualities located between the last named plates in register severally with the alined apertures; said bodies being of larger transverse area than the apertures, as to their portions which are located between the plates, and having portions protruding through the apertures beyond the outer surfaces of both plates, the portions which thus protrude toward the body plate extending substantially into contact therewith.

9. A flat-iron holder -comprising a body plate, and a heat insulating unit secured to said body plate in spaced-apart parallel relation thereto; said unit comprising plates secured together in substantially parallel planes with a space between them, each provided with a plurality of apertures distributed over its area in alinement with corresponding apertures of the other, and glass balls of greater diameter than the sum of the thickness of the last named plates, and of the space between them, located in said space severally in register with the alined apertures, the apertures being of smaller diameter than the balls in such measure as to permit the balls to protrude, in one direction, substantially into contact with the body plate and, in the opposite direction, outwardly from the outermost plate.

WILLIAM H. GEY. 

